The state of Connecticut will spend up to $50 million to replicate the success of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board’s Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative, created to strengthen the advanced manufacturing sector of its economy and respond to immediate employer demand for skilled workers. Public Policy Associates, Inc. (PPA) was selected to be an evaluation partner in developing and implementing the initiative.
“Our partners have done such a phenomenal job running the project and getting people upskilled quickly and into manufacturing jobs that the state authorized up to $50 million to fund it across the state in other industries,” said PPA Vice President for Operations David McConnell. “This is great news for employers and workers alike, and the initiative has great potential to inform other states’ approaches to creating a responsive, demand-driven talent development system.”
One of PPA’s specialties is workforce development and has provided independent evaluations for federally funded projects across the country. You can read more about PPA’s work in this field here.
The Connecticut Department of Labor received a federal Workforce Innovation Fund grant to create the Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative, a demand-driven workforce development initiative providing classroom and industry-specific training to quickly prepare underemployed and unemployed workers for in-demand advanced manufacturing jobs in eastern Connecticut.
You can read more about the Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative in this column in the Hartford Courant. For more information about PPA’s role, click here.
For more information about PPA’s role in the project or to discuss how PPA can help in other workforce projects, contact Mr. McConnell at dmcconnell@publicpolicy.com or 517-485-4477.